Royal Navy service
The Royal Navy purchased Pocahontas on 2 October 1780. On 29–30 April 1781 Pochahontas, Commander Edward Tyrell Smith, was at the inconclusive battle of Fort Royal. On 1 May, as Rear Admiral Samuel Hood and his squadron sailed from Martinique, the French followed. HMS Torbay and Pocahontas were lagging and within range of the enemy guns. The French directed their fire at Torbay which sustained damage to her masts and rigging. Hood sent HMS Amazon to tow Pocahontas out of range. The French then broke off their pursuit. Hood transferred Smith to command HMS Centaur, Captain Nott having been killed in the battle, and placed John Davall Burr in command of Pocahontas. [4]
Burr commissioned her and on 28 May she was renamed Pacahunta. [lower-alpha 1] Admiral Rodney did not confirm Burr's appointment and Burr transferred to the sloop HMS Jane.
Commander Alexander Inglis Cochrane replaced Burr.
In December Commander Isaac Coffin, of HMS Avenger exchanged ships with Cochrane and took command of Pacahunter in New York. He then sailed her to Barbados, where her arrived in January 1782. There he joined Rear Admiral Hood in HMS Barfleur. Coffin participated in the battle of St Kitts (25-26 January) and then returned to Pochahontas. [5]
Some accounts placed Coffin in Barfleur at the battle of the Saintes, but it is not possible to confirm that. [7]
Coffin and the crew of Pacahunta helped in fighting a great fire in St. John's. His service earned him the thanks of the House of Assembly.
After HMS Santa Mónica wrecked on Tortola on 1 April, [8] Pacahunta helped convey part of her crew to Jamaica. At Jamaica Coffin was appointed to command of the 74-gun HMS Shrewsbury. He was confirmed in the rank of captain on 13 June. [7]
HMS Barfleur was a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, designed by Sir Thomas Slade on the lines of the 100-gun ship Royal William, and launched at Chatham Dockyard on 30 July 1768, at a cost of £49,222. In about 1780, she had another eight guns added to her quarterdeck, making her a 98-gun ship; she possessed a crew of approximately 750. Her design class sisters were the Prince George, Princess Royal, and Formidable. She was a ship of long service and many battles.
Admiral Philip Affleck was an admiral in the Royal Navy. He was the younger brother of Sir Edmund Affleck. Affleck held various commands throughout the latter half of the 18th Century, most notably as commander-in-chief of the Jamaica Station and as a Lord of the Board of Admiralty. Early in his career he fought at the Siege of Louisbourg where he was promoted commander after carrying out a successful cutting-out mission. He was promoted to post-captain a year later after impressing Admiral Edward Boscawen during the Battle of Lagos. Later in his career he joined Admiral Sir George Rodney in the West Indies and took part in the capture of Sint Eustatius. Between 1790 and 1792 he held the position of commander-in-chief of the Jamaica Station and between 1793 and 1796 he held his position as a Lord of the Board of Admiralty. Although his career was marked with long periods of inaction and unemployment Admiral Affleck was known as a good officer and was well respected by his peers.
Admiral Sir George Bowyer, 5th and 1st Baronet, was a Royal Navy officer and politician of the eighteenth century. He participated in the Seven Years' War, fighting at the Battle of Minorca, Raid on Rochefort, and Siege of Louisbourg as a junior officer. Promoted to commander in 1761 his first command, the cutter HMS Swift, was captured by the French in June of the following year. Acquitted by his subsequent court martial, Bowyer was promoted to post-captain in October 1762.
HMS Buckingham was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford Dockyard by John Holland to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment, and in active service during the Seven Years' War with France. With a crew of 520 she was one of the largest ships in the Navy at that time.
HMS Albemarle was a 28-gun sixth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had been built as the French merchantman Ménagère, which the French Navy purchased in 1779. A British squadron captured her in September and she was commissioned into service with the Royal Navy. Amongst her commanders in her short career was Captain Horatio Nelson, who would later win several famous victories over the French. The Navy sold her in 1784. She subsequently became a merchant vessel again. In 1791 she transported convicts to Port Jackson as part of the third fleet. She then sailed to India where she picked up a cargo on behalf of the British East India Company. As she was returning to England a French privateer captured her.
James Richard Dacres was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He eventually rose to the rank of Vice-Admiral.
Admiral of the Blue Sir Isaac Coffin, 1st Baronet,, was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
Rear-Admiral James Walker CB, CvTE was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, rising to the rank of Rear-Admiral.
The Battle of the Mona Passage was a naval engagement on 19 April 1782 taking place in the aftermath of the Battle of the Saintes between Britain and France during the American Revolutionary War. A British fleet under Rear-Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, pursued a small French fleet under Georges-François de Framond which had managed to escape the victorious British fleet a week earlier. The two fleets met and engaged at the Mona Passage where the British overtook and captured four French ships, two of which were 64-gun ships of the line.
Charles Inglis was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War, and the American War of Independence, rising to the rank of rear-admiral.
Samuel Granston Goodall was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars in a career that spanned 50 years, rising to the rank of Admiral of the White.
HMS Prince William was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She had previously been Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, but was better known as Guipuzcoano, an armed merchantmen of the Spanish Basque Guipuzcoan Company of Caracas.
William Bayne, was an officer of the Royal Navy. He saw service during the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence, being killed in action in a brief engagement prior to the Battle of the Saintes.
Sir Francis Samuel Drake, 1st Baronet was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence, rising to the rank of Rear-admiral of the Red.
Admiral Robert Linzee was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
Sir Charles Saxton, 1st Baronet was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, rising to the rank of captain.
HMS Barbuda was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1780 after having briefly served as an American privateer. Barbuda was one of the two sloops that captured Demerara and Essequibo in 1781, but the French Navy captured her there in 1782 and took her into service as Barboude. The French Navy sold her to private owners in 1786, and she served briefly as a privateer in early 1793 before the French Navy purchased her again and named her Légère. She served them until mid-1796 when the Royal Navy captured her and took her into service as HMS Legere. She was wrecked off the coast of Colombia, without loss of life, in February 1801.
HMS Ceres was an 18-gun sloop launched in 1777 for the British Royal Navy that the French captured in December 1778 off Saint Lucia. The French Navy took her into service as Cérès. The British recaptured her in 1782 and renamed her HMS Raven, only to have the French recapture her again early in 1783. The French returned her name to Cérès, and she then served in the French Navy until sold at Brest in 1791.
Admiral Thomas Le Marchant Gosselin was a British naval officer of the 18th and 19th centuries who received the patronage of senior officers such as Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood and William Cornwallis. Gosselin joined the Royal Navy in 1778 and as a junior officer had extensive service in the American Revolution, including participating in the Battle of the Saintes in April 1782. Promoted to commander in April 1793, Gosselin took part in the Glorious First of June as commander of HMS Kingfisher. He was promoted to post-captain in July 1795 and took command of a variety of ships including most notably HMS Syren, HMS Latona, and HMS Audacious. Gosselin frequently served on blockade duties in the English Channel and on convoy duties to and from the West Indies.
Rear-Admiral Alexander Wilson was a Royal Navy officer most notable for his rise to flag rank from his position as a common seaman. Wilson joined the navy in 1777 and soon after became coxswain to Alexander Hood. By 1778 Wilson had been made a midshipman, fighting at the Battle of Ushant and Battle of Cape Henry. Wilson was promoted to lieutenant in 1787 and, continuing to serve with Hood, fought at the Glorious First of June and Battle of Groix before being promoted to commander.
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